The Middle Pioneering a New Age of Women’s Volleyball

HERMOSA BEACH, California — Dana Rettke loathes the question.

It’s not that it’s an unfair one, or even a bad question at all. It’s just that, when she’s asked — and she is always asked this question, by some media outlet at some event — who her volleyball role model was growing up, she doesn’t have an answer.

“I hate the question: ‘Who is your volleyball idol? Who do you want to be like?’ ” Rettke said on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “I did not have one. That sounds bad. I don’t want to have that answer. Women’s volleyball — the NCAA Championship was on, but that was your one game.”

She can recall watching one volleyball match as a kid: The 2013 NCAA Championship. Penn State vs. Wisconsin.

That’s it.

That was the match.

How could she have picked a role model from a single match played by two schools outside of her state, in a National Championship that took place in Seattle?

Eleven years later, think about that question, and then think about its hundreds, perhaps thousands, of possible candidates. In barely a decade, the sport has entered an entirely new stratosphere. Volleyball is now the most popular sport for girls in the United States. The Big Ten Network televises regular-season matches. ESPN too. Volleyball TV streams both professional indoor leagues and NCAA. Nebraska sold out a football stadium, 92,000 people coming to watch a blowout. Wisconsin sells out whenever the Badgers are at home. NIL money is pouring in. Three professional volleyball leagues are now in the United States, with LOVB beginning this January.

“It’s been crazy. I had a conversation with my dad about that, that college volleyball is getting all this exposure and he said you guys kind of pioneered that, you were at the forefront of that,” Rettke said. “We didn’t get all of the benefits in terms of NIL and stuff like that, but my whole class at Wisconsin those five years was a part of that. Now looking back and reflecting and seeing how far it’s all come, volleyball is getting the recognition it deserves, and we need to go a little bit further. It’s such an untapped market in terms of media and sponsorships. You can tell by the ratings of the NCAA tournaments, by the pro leagues starting up, by the viewership on TV. It’s just been really awesome to see that.

“I’m trying to create those opportunities and to make sure I do them because…